About WTOP News

WTOP delivers the latest local news, traffic and weather information to the Washington, D.C., region across multiple platforms.

Washington’s Top News broadcasts on 103.5 FM in the D.C. metro area. It can also be heard on 107.7 FM in Virginia and on 103.9 FM in Frederick, Maryland. WTOP’s radio station can be heard west to Warrenton, Virginia, north to Baltimore, Maryland, east to the Chesapeake Bay and south to Fredericksburg, Virginia. WTOP’s live broadcast is also available on WTOP.com and Alexa, as well as HD Radio (103.5 HD-1).

WTOP News is also distributed via our website, WTOP.com, our app, which can be downloaded on Apple and Android devices, and social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

WTOP is committed to reporting relevant news for our region through continuously evolving brands across a growing number of distribution platforms. WTOP provides news and information on-air and online 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

With some of the worst commutes in America, commuters in the D.C. region rely on WTOP’s traffic and weather reports “every 10 minutes on the 8’s, and when it breaks.”

History

The station first went on the air in September 1926 and switched to the call letters “WTOP” in 1943. Its new call letters were inherited from a police radio station in Tiffen, Ohio, thus TOP, Tiffen Ohio Police.

After going through a number of format changes in the 1960s, WTOP Radio went to an all-news format on March 9, 1969.

WTOP’s website, WTOP.com, launched in 1996.

Awards

WTOP has received a multitude of awards for its news coverage over the years, including the 2018 National Edward R. Murrow Award for Overall Excellence. WTOP was honored with the same distinction in 2017 as well as the National Murrow for Best Website. Overall, WTOP has received 22 National Murrow Awards for on-air and website combined in recent history.

In 2018, WTOP received the National Association of Broadcasters Marconi Radio Award for News/Talk Station of the Year. It marked the sixth Marconi for WTOP.

WTOP won three National Headliner Awards in 2018, adding to its list of 25 total for on-air and web products.

Year after year, WTOP has also been recognized with regional Murrow Awards, Chesapeake Associated Press Broadcasters Association Awards and Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters Awards for excellence in broadcasting and website coverage of local news.

In 2018, the National Association of Broadcasters venerated WTOP with its esteemed Crystal Heritage Award — an honor that only six other radio stations have gotten in the history of the awards. To be recognized with the Heritage Award, radio stations must have won a total of five Crystal Radio Awards for year-round community service efforts.

In the community

WTOP has a history of serving its community, partnering with a variety of organizations including the Komen National Race for the Cure, March of Dimes, Make-a-Wish Foundation and dozens more.

Listeners can ask elected officials and community leaders questions directly on WTOP programs such as “Ask the Governor.”